This application claims the priority of German application 199 23 098.6, filed May 20, 1999, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a radiator for internal combustion engines or assemblies thereof, installed in use in an automobile end area defining a chamber to received the radiator.
A known radiator of this general type, disclosed in German Patent Document DE 39 30076 C1, is built into the nose of a motor vehicle and has a rectangular basic shape with boxes being provided on the upright sides of the radiator. Warmed medium is supplied through the boxes to the radiator and cooled medium is carried away. Although it can be assumed that the radiator has a specific cooling effect, its basic shape because it is rectangular makes it difficult to accommodate in a space in the motor vehicle nose surrounded by outside walls that meet at an angle between which a relatively wide curve runs.
A goal of the invention therefore is to design the radiator so that with a good cooling function it can be integrated advantageously into a given body structure of the motor vehicle that includes certain outside walls.
According to the invention, this goal is achieved by an arrangement wherein the vehicle body end area has a laterally curved configuration and wherein outer contours of the radiator are matched to the facing vehicle body contours.
Primary advantages achieved with the invention result from the fact that the radiator on the sides facing the outside walls of a motor vehicle has an outside contour adapted to said outside walls or to a given body shape design which contributes to a good utilization of space. Certain preferred embodiments of the invention also provide for making a supply line of the radiator curved and dimensioning the area of the radiator through which flow occurs accordingly. The outlet line from the radiator can be designed In the same way when the adjacent outside wall makes this advantageous. The fact that the supply line and the outlet line are provided on the top side or the bottom side of the radiator body permits a simple connection with corresponding connecting lines that run between the internal combustion engine and the radiator.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.